Retro Gamerhttp://www.retrogamer.net
The essential guide to classic gamesThu, 23 Jul 2015 16:43:22 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3The Amiga Is 30 Today!http://www.retrogamer.net/blog_post/the-amiga-is-30-today/
http://www.retrogamer.net/blog_post/the-amiga-is-30-today/#commentsThu, 23 Jul 2015 16:43:22 +0000http://www.retrogamer.net/?p=137009Commodore’s Amiga line was an incredibly influential range of computers – chances are that even if you didn’t grow up playing one, you played games that originated on the platform. Well, here’s a fact that’ll make you feel just a tad creaky – the first Amiga machines launched 30 years ago today, as the most advanced machines on the market. Over the years the Amiga 500 would host countless classic games and see off the threat of the competing Atari ST, but follow-up ventures such as the Amiga 1200 and CD32 never achieved the same success, ultimately resulting in the bankruptcy of Commodore.

If you’re feeling a bit of nostalgia for the likes of Speedball 2, Sensible Soccer and Syndicate right now, you’re not alone. So we thought we’d get in on the celebrations too – take a look back at the glorious Amiga 500 and mull over our choice of its top 10 games. Also, whether you’re a hardened Amiga fanatic or a newcomer looking for the essentials, The Amiga Book is our one-stop guide to Commodore’s excellent machine.

Have you ever wondered what goes through the mind of a serial killer? Perhaps you’ve wondered how some of the world’s greatest crimes have been pulled off? Or maybe you just get a bizarre fascination with some of the world’s deadly killers.

Real Crime, our exciting new magazine reveals all the above and so much more. Every issue it will look into the minds of some of the world’s most notorious killers, revealing what made them tick and showcasing their deadly crimes. From the butcher of Wollongong, to the serial killers of the Age of Aquarius, every fascinating story will be revealed in full.

If you enjoy looking back to the past then you’ll find Real Crimes to be an astonishing account of some of the biggest shocks the world has ever seen. Best of all your first three issues will just cost £1 each, making it incredible value for money.

N64 fans rejoice – Capcom has shown off some footage of the greatest game never released for the console. Resident Evil Zero, a prequel to the original Resident Evil, was in development for the N64 at the end of the Nineties and intended for release in 2000. Enough of the game was finished that a playable demo was made available to visitors to the Tokyo Game Show in 1999. However, the game was scrapped as an N64 project when the amount of content required became too large for a single cartridge, and development was moved to the Nintendo Gamecube. The game eventually released in 2002, and is about to be re-released in HD form. The video above compares the N64 prototype, the Gamecube game and the new remake.

While the existence of the N64 game was widely known due to its public showing, the fate of the prototype was never clear. Players looking for details have previously had to rely on poor-quality video captured from the public demo and old magazine scans. However, the fact that Capcom has been able to show off high quality video footage means that the prototype still exists, and might well be able to be included as a bonus feature in a future Resident Evil game. We can only hope!

]]>http://www.retrogamer.net/blog_post/resident-evil-zero-prototype-shown-off/feed/1Batmanhttp://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games90/batman-2/
http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games90/batman-2/#commentsThu, 09 Jul 2015 16:55:36 +0000http://www.retrogamer.net/?p=136989Sometimes – most of the time, really – a publisher will get a licence and do something obvious with it. Terminator? Shooty-shooty blam blam. Bruce Lee? Beat-’em-up. Crazy Frog? Terrible game, no matter what genre. But then there are those weird outliers – the Weetabix shoot-’em-ups, the 7-Up platformers, and the Batman maze game. Yes indeed, for whatever reason Sunsoft avoided the usual diet of platforming, beat-’em-ups and driving games we associate with the Dark Knight and instead gave us a top-down action game in which he needs to collect objects to complete stages.

Of course, Batman is no Pac-Man, and he’s hardly going to be caught defenceless against the Joker’s hoodlums. The mazes of Gotham are set up such that conflict is unavoidable, but as it’s a maze game, eliminating enemies permanently would spoil the fun. So the developers reached a middle ground in which Batman has to do a lot of work to temporarily remove his foes, first stunning them with a Batarang and then walking into them while they’re dazed to send them packing for a bit. It’s hard going at first as Batman is slow and has a weedy throw, but power-ups will soon sort that out.

While it’s an unusual take on the franchise, it works pretty well. Batman often feels powerful but outnumbered, the expanding mazes are excellent and the visuals are pretty decent. Better yet, the sound is excellently moody. If you’ve dismissed Batman as a licensed game or something you already have on other platforms, take a second look – it’s a bold game that deserves attention.

]]>http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games90/batman-2/feed/0Salamanderhttp://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games90/salamander-3/
http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games90/salamander-3/#commentsMon, 06 Jul 2015 17:09:00 +0000http://www.retrogamer.net/?p=136986If there’s any type of retro gamer that has to have a PC Engine, the shoot-’em-up fanatic is that type. The system is well-known for its brilliant blasters, from Hudson’s Star Soldier series to Namco’s Galaga ’88, and once the CD system is factored in you can get even more in.

One of the earliest shooters I got for my system was Konami’s Salamander, a Gradius spin-off which simplifies the power-up system and adds vertically-scrolling levels into the mix. Eschewing the straight space theme of its predecessor, Salamander’s look is different straight from the off, with enormous teeth and pulsating growths littering the organic first stage, before progressing to fire themes and the like. It’s a pretty sweet-looking game, all told.

Instead of collecting tokens to spend on power-ups, Salamander sees you picking up icons just like any other shoot-’em-up. While it removes a little of the trademark Gradius character, it does do a little bit to alleviate the problem of losing all your power-ups upon death – you can immediately grab Option drones and missiles, rather than having to save for them. The orientation-switching doesn’t actually add a lot to the game if we’re being honest, but it does break up the pace a little. We prefer the horizontally-scrolling stages over the vertical ones, but that might just be us.

All in all, Salamander is a good shooter for any PC Engine owner to take a look at. While it’s no longer the best home version of the game available, it’ll certainly fit into most collections quite nicely.

]]>http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games90/salamander-3/feed/0Ninja Spirithttp://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games90/ninja-spirit-2/
http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games90/ninja-spirit-2/#commentsFri, 03 Jul 2015 12:14:27 +0000http://www.retrogamer.net/?p=136982Arcade ninja games are ace. While that’s actually not a statement we can generalise (thanks, Mirai Ninja), it definitely applies to Irem’s Ninja Spirit – and equally to the PC Engine conversion, which is definitely a thing of beauty.

It’s not tremendously different to other ninja titles of the time, in that it focuses a lot more on combat than on platforming (think Shinobi, rather than Revenge Of Shinobi), but it’s a real looker and offers some action-packed gameplay. You can easily see why it was so impressive back in 1990 – once you’re fully powered up with after-images and snazzy sword effects, the game chucks an impressive amount of sprites around the screen (albeit with a little bit of slowdown).

Thankfully, the developers included a specific mode for owners of the PC Engine version to tone down the difficulty a little, giving our hero Gekkou the chance to survive a few hits before he perishes. For fans of the original game though, the unforgiving one-hit kills are still available in arcade mode.

The only drawback to Ninja Spirit is the price – both Japanese and North American copies will fetch a pretty penny today, with even a loose HuCard often going for more than £20. A fully boxed copy is more likely to set you back £45 or more. Is it worth it though? Oh yes. Action games this good don’t come along very often, and this is an essential part of any PC Engine/Turbografx collection.

]]>http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games90/ninja-spirit-2/feed/0Athlete Kingshttp://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games90/athlete-kings-2/
http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games90/athlete-kings-2/#commentsThu, 02 Jul 2015 16:48:09 +0000http://www.retrogamer.net/?p=136979A classic decathlon game in the style of Track & Field, Athlete Kings didn’t have an awful lot of competition on the Saturn but still managed to impress with tight gameplay and attractive high resolution visuals. Not only that, but it was a perfect port of the arcade game Decathlete, though this is a bit of a cheat as it comes from the Saturn based ST-V board.

While the button-bashing gameplay was about as deep as it had been about a decade earlier (that is to say “not very”), the charm of Athlete Kings was its inclusion of an international cast of characters with their own individual strengths and weaknesses. British beefcake Jef Jansens was great at throwing events while Chinese teenager Li Huang was a champion sprinter, while the stereotypical arrogant German Karl Vain got to feud with all-American athletic hero Rick Blade. Every character had trademark mannerisms and taunts more akin to the cast of a fighting game than a sports title, which greatly increased the amusement factor during two-player games.

Such was the quality of Athlete Kings that the game’s Dreamcast successor Virtua Athlete 2K failed to live up to its legacy, with fewer events and a lack of amusing competitors. Once you’re bored with Athlete Kings, the winter sports sequel Winter Heat is well worth a look. That game takes many of the Athlete Kings characters and allows them to compete in a variety of sports that revolve primarily around sliding.

]]>http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games90/athlete-kings-2/feed/0Cosmic Avengerhttp://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games80/cosmic-avenger/
http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games80/cosmic-avenger/#commentsWed, 01 Jul 2015 16:58:14 +0000http://www.retrogamer.net/?p=136975Not every arcade game gets a fair shake on release. While some find immediate success, those that don’t are usually chucked on the scrapheap very quickly indeed, regardless of how good they might be. (Just ask us about Sega’s 2Spicy some time…)

Universal’s Cosmic Avenger was a game that didn’t become tremendously popular in arcades. While it’s an attractive and well-made take on Konami’s classic Scramble, it just didn’t do the business. Luckily for Universal, a second chance presented itself in the form of the ColecoVision. Coleco needed arcade games badly, as it was serious about bringing the fight to Atari in the home console market, but unlike its competitor it didn’t have its own rich selection of hits to draw upon. A deal was signed with Universal and Cosmic Avenger became one of the earliest ColecoVision titles.

For new ColecoVision owners, the game was a clear justification of the purchase. Cosmic Avenger sees you shooting aerial targets and bombing ground-based installations through three distinct segments – a brightly-coloured city, a sparse wasteland and a hazardous cavern. Not only did the game play well, with responsive controls and a well-judged difficulty level, it looked a treat. The Atari 2600 and Intellivision couldn’t touch the visuals, and it compared very well with Atari 5200 software too. In fact, our only real complaint is the fact that you can’t fly through explosions after shooting something down.

Cosmic Avenger might have got lost in the shuffle of the crowded arcade market, but given the chance to stand out it shone. If you’ve got a ColecoVision, make sure to check it out.

New publisher Console Classics yesterday released N2O, a hidden gem of the PlayStation library, on Steam. Although the debut was quiet – the game is the only one the publisher has put out so far – the company seems to have some big ambitions, as a quick look at its website suggests that it has licensed a range of PlayStation titles for release on modern platforms. The games include many ex-Gremlin games including the Actua sports series and Loaded, as well as games from other companies including Battle Arena Toshinden 2, Koudelka and D.

If you didn’t catch N2O the first time around, the game is a Tempest-style shooter in which you shoot up some bugs to licensed music, provided by The Crystal Method. The game was pretty well-received at the time and has aged decently well, though we haven’t yet played the Steam version, which appears to rely on emulation.

]]>http://www.retrogamer.net/blog_post/one-to-watch-console-classics/feed/0Numskull And Capcom Launch Street Fighter T-Shirt Rangehttp://www.retrogamer.net/blog_post/numskull-and-capcom-launch-street-fighter-t-shirt-range/
http://www.retrogamer.net/blog_post/numskull-and-capcom-launch-street-fighter-t-shirt-range/#commentsMon, 29 Jun 2015 16:52:21 +0000http://www.retrogamer.net/?p=136960Capcom and clothing brand Numskull have teamed up to create a range of five rather attractive new limited edition Street Fighter t-shirts for summer 2015, with designs provided by the pop artist and New Yorker illustrator Stanley Chow.

Chow’s designs are vintage-style offerings featuring stylised profiles of Ryu, Ken and Blanka against backdrops of their national flags, with names rendered in Japanese. You can see Ryu’s version above. The two alternative t-shirts are titled Ryu of Hearts and Ken of Clubs, with the long-standing rivals drawn as playing cards and draped in their respective national flags. You can see Ken of Clubs below.

The new t-shirts are available to buy now from yellowbulldog.co.uk, for £22 each. And if Street Fighter isn’t your speed, you might want to check out Numskull’s website anyway, as the company offers further retro gaming goodies including licensed Sega and PlayStation merchandise.

]]>http://www.retrogamer.net/blog_post/numskull-and-capcom-launch-street-fighter-t-shirt-range/feed/2Giant Gram 2000http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games00/giant-gram-2000/
http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games00/giant-gram-2000/#commentsFri, 26 Jun 2015 12:39:46 +0000http://www.retrogamer.net/?p=136957It’s not easy being a wrestling nerd. The constant questioning of your intelligence (“You do know it’s not real, right?”) is one thing, but the struggle to find good stuff to watch is more troublesome. Sure, you’ll get great matches in WWE and even the smaller American companies, but you’re missing out on a lot if you don’t look at Japan – and that’s always been true. While New Japan Pro Wrestling has been dominant in recent times, All Japan Pro Wrestling was once a force to be reckoned with – and surprisingly, so were its games.

Giant Gram 2000 is the third entry in Sega’s Japan-only wrestling series, following All Japan Pro Wrestling Featuring Virtua and Giant Gram: All Japan Pro Wrestling 2. As they originated in the arcades, the games are relatively fast-paced and have control systems that are easy to grasp and, being based on Japanese wrestling, heavy on striking. What’s great about Giant Gram 2000 is the fact that as well as featuring a responsive, enjoyable fighting system, the moves look like they hurt. When someone lands a particularly damaging move, the screen will go negative with a great big clanging sound to signify injury – it’s a great touch. Better yet, the home game has some very cool extras over the arcade release, the best of which is a history mode in which you recreate classic matches in order to unlock video highlights.

While it doesn’t feature the likes of The Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin, the fanatics out there will likely recognise Vader and Dr Death Steve Williams – and even Wolf Hawkfield of Virtua Fighter shows up for a scrap. The roster is impressively large, too. It’s not got the breadth of modes or customisation options that Fire Pro Wrestling D has, but it’s otherwise comfortably competitive with the game – and that makes it one of the two best wrestling games on the system.

Less than a month into my tenure on Retro Gamer, I learned something important about my editor Darran Jones: he’s not a fan of Dig Dug. Within a month, the fact that I’d even brought it up in the office prompted him to write this piece on why he loves Mr. Do!

The argument is that it’s a better game than Dig Dug. But you know what? It turns out that it doesn’t matter. Sure, Universal’s game might well be deeper mechanically than Namco’s – but given that Mr. Do! turned up six months after Dig Dug, it’s hardly a surprise that it builds on the formula. And while Darran’s probably right to say that Namco’s superior business network was probably a greater factor in Dig Dug’s eventual popularity than the design of the game, the truth is that we love it – I love it – precisely because it was so widespread.

I’m a fairly adventurous retro gamer, in that I’ll frequently pick up games I never played and consoles that I never owned. Retro gaming isn’t exclusively a nostalgic pursuit for me, but that’s not to say that nostalgia holds no appeal – and when I play Dig Dug, that’s why I’m playing it. Sure, Mr. Do! is a great game. It just isn’t the one that my dad showed me how to play on his Atari 2600, and it isn’t the one that was eventually given to me with that Atari 2600 to become one of the first games I ever owned. Good game design is something to be treasured, but it’ll never be a substitute for childhood memories.

There’s a lot to be said for cheering for the underdogs, but my affection will always be for the winning team in this case. That’s just how life is – sorry Daz!

Perhaps the most surprising announcement of recent times has been the revival of the classic computer series Master Of Orion. Unlike the likes of Shenmue III and Final Fantasy VII, Master Of Orion’s return wasn’t preceded by a large fan campaign nor extensive teasing – but as we were told out during an exclusive preview, love for the game is at the heart of this revival.

“This is a passion project for us,” explains Chris Keeling, director of product vision at Wargaming. It turns out that Wargaming’s CEO Victor Kislyi is a huge fan, and his love of the series was a driving force behind acquiring it from Atari. Interestingly, the new game isn’t a sequel to 2003’s Master Of Orion 3. “The original series – that’s the icon, that’s the legend,” Chris says, explaining the decision to reboot the franchise. “We don’t want to just try to glom onto that. What we wanted to do is to re-envision the original game for a new generation of players.”

The emphasis on modernising the game while staying true to the originals is evident. The 4X gameplay – explore, expand, exploit and exterminate – is largely lifted from the second game in the series, and the turn-based structure remains. The world is derived from the first game, with the original ten races making their return, as well as the GNN news broadcasts that inform players of random events. Proceedings are spiced up with new 3D animation for events. You’ll see ships swoop over the surface of newly colonised planets, and see fully animated characters during diplomatic events. Wargaming is promising voice acting from well-known sci-fi figures, but details of who they might be are currently under wraps. The interface has also been updated and made rather more user-friendly, too. “The way we felt about it when we were growing up and playing that game, we want a new audience to be able to feel that, as well as all of the original hardcore 4X players,” Chris explains.

Fans are often suspicious of any change of ownership, but it looks like those concerns are being covered. “The only thing that’s simplified is the interface and the way information is presented,” Chris explains when asked if there’s any danger of the game being ‘dumbed down’ for the new generation. Also, despite Wargaming’s success in the free-to-play sector with games like World Of Tanks, Master Of Orion will be a traditional release and is intended to be complete from the start. The new game is being developed by NGD Studios in Argentina, but members of the original team are on board in consulting roles and the original game’s composer David Govett is writing the music. And if you feel that the last instalment tarnished the name of the series somewhat, don’t worry – “we don’t speak of [Master Of Orion] 3,” we’re reassured.

Master Of Orion doesn’t have a specific release date or price yet, but it will be launching on Windows first. Look for a review in Retro Gamer when it hits the market.

]]>http://www.retrogamer.net/blog_post/first-look-master-of-orion/feed/1Stryker’s Runhttp://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games80/strykers-run/
http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games80/strykers-run/#commentsWed, 17 Jun 2015 16:47:54 +0000http://www.retrogamer.net/?p=136943One of the things that I love about retro machines is that they each have very distinctive graphical styles. While games I can play on my PlayStation 4 are scarcely distinguishable from their Xbox One counterparts, it’s hard to mistake a C64 game for a Spectrum game and vice versa – and it’s hard to mistake Stryker’s Run for anything other than a BBC Micro game. The chunky, colourful visuals are quite unlike anything on the BBC’s 8-bit peers, and look absolutely excellent. A little bit of flicker is ultimately a small price to pay for such vibrant backgrounds.

Stryker’s Run is no shallow beauty either. The run-and-gun action is nice and responsive, and there’s a good array of obstacles to overcome. Enemies won’t let you get away with constantly crouching, mines force you to watch where you’re going and helicopters are an ever-present threat. Thankfully, you’re not fighting alone as allied soldiers and helicopters are also roaming the game’s landscape and will take out enemies on your behalf – and when you need even more help than your comrades can provide, it’s possible to commandeer a helicopter of your own.

While the BBC Micro had a reputation for being an educational machine, games like Stryker’s Run prove that it was perfectly capable of arcade-style action when given the opportunity to deliver it. Better yet, it’s a BBC original and one that can’t be mistaken for anything else out there. If this isn’t already in your collection, it’s well worth tracking down.

This year’s E3 show has been absolutely absurd in a number of ways, and there’s been some great retro love out there. The most groundbreaking story has easily been the announcement of Shenmue III as a Kickstarter project during the Sony conference – not only did it break Kickstarter, but it reached its $2 million funding goal in less than 9 hours, making it the quickest project ever to reach that total. You can watch the trailer for that above, but be warned – it’s not expected until December 2017.

Next up, we’ve got Final Fantasy VII being remade for PS4. It’s a pretty huge piece of news, though this one’s not got any gameplay footage – just confirmation that some of the key members of the original team are back in charge. On the Xbox One side of things, Rare Replay is the big bit of retro love – a huge compilation of 30 games for £20, spanning Ultimate’s classics such as Knight Lore to the NES era of Battletoads, right up to the likes of Banjo-Kazooie and Viva Pinata.

Nintendo has, as usual, been marching to the beat of its own drum. Leading the charge is Starfox Zero, a reboot of the classic on-rails shooter series being developed by the talented chaps at Platinum Games. Metroid Prime: Federation Force is on its way to 3DS, although the return of the series after five years is being greeted with confusion due to its odd, child-centric nature. There’s also a new Zelda title on the way to 3DS, The Legend Of Zelda: Tri-Force Heroes, which looks to play an awful lot like Four Swords but with just three players. Meanwhile, the level design game Super Mario Maker is set to allow other Nintendo stars to cross into the iconic platforming franchise, by way of Amiibo compatibility.

Look out for more detail on these in issue 144 of Retro Gamer, on sale 16th July.

]]>http://www.retrogamer.net/blog_post/e3-brings-the-retro-love/feed/4Inside The Time Trap Arcadehttp://www.retrogamer.net/blog_post/inside-the-time-trap-arcade/
http://www.retrogamer.net/blog_post/inside-the-time-trap-arcade/#commentsMon, 15 Jun 2015 16:56:11 +0000http://www.retrogamer.net/?p=136931If you’re the sort of person who loves golden age arcade games (and we’d be surprised if you didn’t, if you’re reading this site), the Time Trap Arcade might just be your cup of tea.

Located within the Cherry Blossom Inn Hotel in Blackpool, the arcade features a variety of classic games in beautiful condition, including the likes of Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Defender, Frogger and Darran’s favourite, Dig Dug.

Of course, it’s not just what you play but how you play that’s important, and the Time Trap Arcade offers a variety of VIP nights, high score competitions and more. The arcade can also be hired for events, but the major means of access is VIP membership.

]]>http://www.retrogamer.net/blog_post/inside-the-time-trap-arcade/feed/0Wheeliehttp://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games80/wheelie-2/
http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games80/wheelie-2/#commentsFri, 12 Jun 2015 11:53:16 +0000http://www.retrogamer.net/?p=136928After playing Wheelie for a bit, I can’t help but think that I’ve gone a bit soft over the years. It’s an unusual platform game, in that it’s set on a motorbike and handles as such. If you want to go up a slope, you’ll need to ensure that you have enough momentum to do so, a routine that will surely be familiar to the millions of Sonic fans out there. But while in other games crossing an icy patch just means you’ll slide around for a bit, in Wheelie you’ll lose control and crash. Speed must also be regulated in order to descend slopes and cross gaps. Despite the fact that I grew up playing platform games, Wheelie is the kind of game that causes me to fail at apparently easy tasks.

Wheelie’s not a bad game at all, but the most memorable bit of it for me is arguably the worst part on a personal level. As you might have guessed from the reference above, my years of experience with platform games include a lot of time spent commanding a hedgehog to jump on enemies. In Wheelie, the first stage is spent trying to avoid having hedgehogs jump on you, which for most players is a relatively cutesy set of obstacles to overcome. But for me, being squashed by a hedgehog is a surreal, nightmarish inversion of the natural laws of videogaming. So that’s Wheelie: a game that I like, but one that has instilled fear and respect into me.

Capcom has announced a new compilation titled Mega Man: Legacy Collection, and a new incarnation of Digital Eclipse is developing it!

The compilation itself focuses on the blue bomber’s six NES outings. As well as faithful recreations of the original games, the game is to offer extra material for fans. A brand new challenge mode will showcase remixed gameplay from all six games, with scaling difficulty levels to accommodate both veterans and newcomers, while the museum mode is to offer original concept drawings, artwork and more history. Leaderboards and replay functionality are also promised.

Digital Eclipse was a development team which came to specialise in converting and emulating old games, and the original incarnation merged into Backbone Entertainment. The new incarnation is a retro-focused studio, which is described as “a new kind of studio; one dedicated to not only restoring gaming’s heritage, but to preserving it and keeping it alive and available for future generations.”

Mega Man: Legacy Collection is scheduled to launch this summer on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, with a Nintendo 3DS release following in the winter. It’s digital-only on all four platforms and priced at $14.99 (likely £11.99 after conversion).

]]>http://www.retrogamer.net/blog_post/capcom-announces-mega-man-legacy-collection/feed/1Zaxxonhttp://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games80/zaxxon-2/
http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games80/zaxxon-2/#commentsFri, 05 Jun 2015 12:02:56 +0000http://www.retrogamer.net/?p=136920The Colecovision wasn’t a console with a massively long life, but it definitely made an impact during its short time on the market. Coleco correctly reasoned that the Atari 2600’s strength was in its ability to offer home versions of the most popular arcade games, so in building a competitor to the Atari 5200, it licensed every arcade hit it could get its hands on. Of course, it wouldn’t have mattered a jot if the conversions were rubbish, but the console’s powerful hardware ensured that they were relatively authentic.

A great example of this is Zaxxon, Sega’s hit isometric shoot-’em-up. The Colecovision version of the game was excellent, incorporating all of the elements that made the original arcade game great – the pseudo-3D levels, the early examples of boss fights, even the atmospheric lack of music. Was it arcade perfect? It wasn’t – sprites were a little smaller, backgrounds less detailed, and the sound effects a little less realistic. But was it better than any competing versions? It sure was – unlike the Atari 2600 and Intellivision versions, it retained the isometric stages of the original, and it managed to make it to market before the vast majority of others hit the market. If you wanted to play a great version of Zaxxon, you needed a Colecovision.

While the Colecovision’s version of Zaxxon has been surpassed since the Eighties, like many of its conversions, it’s still easy to see how the machine was appealing. All the thrills of the arcade in your own home – who wouldn’t want that?

]]>http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games80/zaxxon-2/feed/3CLASSIC MOMENTS – Kenseidenhttp://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games80/classic-moments-kenseiden/
http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games80/classic-moments-kenseiden/#commentsThu, 04 Jun 2015 17:00:21 +0000http://www.retrogamer.net/?p=136912Sega’s Eastern horror platformer might not be the most original game of all time, borrowing heavily from Castlevania, but it’s a favourite of Master System owners. How many of these great moments do you recall?

Nobody’s Perfect, So Why Practice?
“Thou must practice here,” says the old master. In a game like Kenseiden we’re fine with the prospect of a little practice – after the tough opening stages, some respite seems welcome. However, this is no simple workout. Kenseiden’s training stages demand incredible precision from players, as only a single hit will end your session and cause a small loss of life. Considering the barrage of arrows that appears from both sides of the screen and the tricky timing required to dodge spear traps, that’s a harsh failure condition.

Of course, you’re not taking this risk for no reward – successfully clearing one of these practice stages can bring massive benefits. In a game where health refills are scarce and extra lives rarer still, it’s well worth exchanging a little health for the possibility of an extended health bar or a talisman that reduces enemy damage. Quite frankly though, those are fringe benefits – the truth is that managing to beat one of Kenseiden’s training stages will make you feel like you actually possess a samurai’s skill!

Journey To The East
Kenseiden’s non-linear structure allows players to make their way across the 16 provinces of ancient Japan as they see fit, with a map screen appearing after each stage to offer a choice of route. Very few stages are actually mandatory to play – it’s your job to decide which upgrades are worth the risk of obtaining before you fight the final boss.

Freaky Creatures
Thanks to its distinctly Japanese setting, Kenseiden features many monsters that will be unfamiliar to Western audiences. Spiders, crows and skeletons are fairly run of the mill horror beasts but before long you’ll be confronted with truly bizarre enemies, including fire-throwing demons, chain-flinging apparitions and our favourite – a lizard with a woman’s head for a tail.

Lord Of The Sword
While Kenseiden does reward practice, it’s an utterly brutal game and you’re constantly under attack from enemies. It’s vital to learn how best to utilise your sword as a result – being able to hold it out while crouching is helpful, but powerful attacks gained from bosses such as this Helmet Splitting Sword technique are the ones that really prove useful.

Giant Slaying
Benkei, the club-wielding warlock, is an absolute nightmare of a boss. He only seems to be vulnerable during specific frames of his walking animation, and can retaliate with an attack which drains a huge chunk of your health. The best approach is to swing your sword and immediately run – leading to that sweet moment of relief when you finally best him.